UX Researcher/Designer

Agile Six is a people-first, remote-work company that serves shoulder-to-shoulder with federal agencies to find innovative, human-centered solutions. We build better by putting people first. We are animated by our core values of Purpose, Wholeness, Trust, Self-Management and Inclusion. We deliver our solutions in autonomous teams of self-managed professionals (no managers here!) who genuinely care about each other and the work. We know that’s our company’s purpose – and that we can only achieve it by supporting a culture where people feel valued, self-managed, and love to come to work.

Agile Six is looking for a UX Researcher/Designer to join a collaborative, cross-functional team working with the Department of Veterans Affairs on an integrated patient portal experience on VA.gov. The goal of our team’s work is to improve Veterans’ digital experience by giving them one place to easily manage their VA health care, community care, disability benefits, and other information.

This UX Researcher/Designer will have a breadth of UX knowledge across the HCD process. This role entails collaborating with our team to design and implement highly complex, cross-disciplinary projects for government agencies and the people they serve, including context switching across a variety of products in our portfolio as required.

Among your responsibilities will be to partner on research and design activities and communicate findings to both team members and key stakeholders. You have an adaptive, empathetic and collaborative mindset, and care deeply about team dynamics. Most importantly, you have a passion for working on important problems that have a lasting impact on millions of users and make a difference in our government!

Please note, this position is anticipated, pending contract award response.

• Support and lead user research efforts across a variety of research methodologies such as user interviews, heuristic evaluations, generative research, tree testing, card sorting, and design thinking workshops. Follow the research process, including discovery, synthesis, documentation, and communication.
• Clearly articulate your thought processes through verbal and written explanation, whiteboard, sketching, or quick mock-ups to medium or large groups.
• Create design deliverables at all levels of fidelity throughout the process, from early sketches to low fidelity wireframes to high fidelity prototypes.
• Use the VA Design System and design with repeatable patterns across the portfolio. Collaborate with Design System team when necessary around iteration and improvement of design system components
• Collaborate with the product manager and engineers to ensure implementation matches intent across all design components.
• Keep UX work in sync with the product roadmap and flag delays or issues in research and design with team members.
• Leverage AI where appropriate to assist in research and information architecture tasks, including such things as identifying redundancies and outdated content; grouping similar content; detecting inconsistencies in taxonomy, metadata, and labeling; suggesting reorganization of content based on actual usage patterns
• Work with team to identify and integrate AI-powered tools and services into the software design and development lifecycle to improve the efficiency and/or quality of UX deliverables and production code. Example services include, but are not limited to, Vercel V0, Dovetail, Replit, Figma AI tools and GitHub Copilot.
• Communicate and collaborate with stakeholders and team members across a range of disciplines
• Support the practice of design and research within the larger company as needed through activities such as participating in communities of practice.
• We expect the responsibilities of this position to shift and grow organically over time, in response to considerations such as the team’s needs and strengths, the unique strengths and interests of the selected candidate, and an evolving understanding of the delivery environment.

• 5+ years of experience working as UX researcher / information architect, or related position in collaboration with digital product teams (enterprise environment a plus)
• Experience conducting user research: creating research plans, scheduling, facilitating sessions, notetaking, and synthesizing results
• Experience executing on user research related to information architecture such as card sorts, tree tests, etc.
• Experience maintaining or supporting information architecture deliverables such as site maps, wireframes, content audits, data definitions, taxonomy management, etc.
• Knowledge of information architecture design impacts on accessibility and SEO
• Well-versed in human-centered design, interaction design fundamentals, and UI design and research best practices, including accessibility
• Proficient in Figma and modern prototyping tools
• Experience leveraging AI tools and services to aid UX research and/or design in a professional capacity. 
• Experience successfully collaborating with cross-functional partners and other designers and researchers, seeking and providing feedback in an Agile environment
• Adaptive, empathetic, collaborative, and holds a positive mindset
• Has lived and worked in the United States for 3 out of the last 5 years
• Some of our clients may request or require travel from time to time. If this is a concern for you, we encourage you to apply and discuss it with us at your initial interview

Additional desired qualifications

• Familiarity with the US Web Design System
• Familiarity with Section-508 and WCAG 2.1AA Accessibility requirements, standards, and testing tools
• Experience developing knowledge of complex domain and systems
• Experience working with government agencies
• You are a U.S. Veteran. As a service-disabled veteran-owned small business, we recognize the transition to civilian life can be tricky, and welcome and encourage Veterans to apply

At Agile Six, we are committed to building teams that represent a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. Even if you don't meet every requirement, we encourage you to apply. We’re eager to meet people who believe in our mission and who can contribute to our team in a variety of ways.

To promote pay equity, we publish salary ranges for each position.

This role pays: $105,983.

Our benefits are designed to reinforce our core values of Wholeness, Self Management and Inclusion. The following benefits are available to all employees. We respect that only you know what balance means for your life and season. While we offer support from coaches, we expect you to own your wholeness, show up for work whole, and go home to your family the same. You will be seen, heard and valued. We expect you to offer the same for your colleagues, be kind (not controlling), be caring (not directive) and ready to participate in a state of flow. We mean it when we say “We build better by putting people first”.

All Sixers Enjoy:

• Self-managed work/life balance and flexibility
• Competitive and equitable salary (equal pay for equal work)
• Employee Stock Ownership (ESOP) for all employees!
• 401K matching
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Employer paid short and long term disability insurance
• Employer paid life insurance
• Self-managed and generous paid time off
• Paid federal holidays and two floating holidays
• Paid parental leave
• Self-managed professional development spending
• Self-managed wellness days

Hiring practices

Agile Six is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any factor protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.

Note: We participate in E-Verify. Upon hire, we will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. Unfortunately, we are unable to sponsor visas at this time.

If you need assistance or reasonable accommodation in applying for any of these positions, please reach out to [email protected]. We want to ensure you have the ability to apply for any position at Agile Six.

Please read and respond to the application questions carefully. Interviews are conducted on a rolling basis until the position has been filled.